We made it. Got through day one somehow, though I didn’t personally enjoy it much. I have to admit, AX is getting a bit old. I’m not feeling the same excitement anymore for the event as a whole, so it may very well be my last time. Either way, the actual convention is as big and as loud as ever; I’m pretty proud at least to have documented two full years on Supar Robo now, with 2015 being the rolling third.
Starting off by suiting my buddy up of course. This is actually our first full test-fit of the entire armor. We didn’t have time to put everything on before the actual convention, though we were pretty confident that everything would be alright because we test fitted all the parts individually.
My other buddy who joined us on our cosplay sessions in his getup, cape and all.
There he is. Ready to rock ‘n roll and kick ass. I’m really liking the overall look; the feet in particular do a really good job of balancing out the otherwise top-heavy suit.
Articulation is slightly worse than a 90’s High Grade. The paint is a bit uneven and messy close-up, but it generally looks solid at a glance or from afar. We got some funky white cracks with the black paint, we’re not sure why.
The funnel system worked out, though they’re just as massive and cumbersome as we anticipated. Nevertheless, we decided to brave the Exhibit Hall.
It was well received – so much so that it got the attention of the guys over at Hobby Link Japan who apparently do a video show called Gunpla TV. As a big Guntoka headgeek myself, I was kind of surprised to not have heard of them before, but the video reviewing scene isn’t really my cup of tea anymore, not after my YouTube account got shut down when I was still doing Gundam video reviews myself.
We even got an interview! My buddy was pretty hyped and very adamant on how famous these guys are, and while I had no prior knowledge to validate his claims, I’ll believe it.
Signing the armor isn’t anything we haven’t done before.
Lots of good-looking cosplays, as always. I didn’t personally get a chance to oogle much; left it to my photographer as usual to capture whatever he felt was interesting enough.
Shoutout to this awesome Junko from Dangan Ronpa. I still want a Monokuma, plush or figure.
Also an amazingly simple but on-point Ichigo. Damn his arms even match the look of the character. Here’s to hoping the last arc gets animated some day.
Did Zero again as usual this year, though the entire costume has been made from scratch again courtesy of mother dearest. It’s a bit rough around the edges because she just got into sewing, but I think it’s a big improvement over last year. I no longer have the crop top jacket and too-short cape; everything is very form fitting and adjusted to emulate the original character design more closely.
The worst part however, is that the person whom I bought my helmet from on eBay failed to deliver in time. They promised a delivery a week before the event when I made the purchase, but come the Expo and they say it’s still in customs. There was never even any official mark of shipment on eBay. I’ve bought from these guys before for my mask (I sell it after each Expo every year to get my money back) so I know they’re a reputable seller; it’s just very regrettable that they had to flake this time when I nearly had the rest of my outfit as I desired.
My backup plan was to buy a mask from the Exhibit Hall on Day 1 since I distinctly remember one being sold last year, but sadly couldn’t find one even after following multiple leads and checking specific vendors. I figured out after checking the Exhibitor List that the seller who had it last year (Fine Horse Cosplay, who were actually the ones who produced the mask personally) wasn’t at the convention this year. Ended up being a pretty disappointing day since I basically wasted it all hunting at the Exhibit Hall, but with the burden off my shoulders I’ve basically accepted that my cosplay will be incomplete this year. Extremely saddening on a personal level, especially since this might be my last year, but can’t do anything now.
If I recall correctly, the Exhibit Hall has been expanded significantly this year, so that means more vendors and more fun. I’m almost disappointed that I rushed through everything within the first hour in a desperate frenzy for a mask and spent the rest of the day sulking between stands, but I think I’ll be able to lighten up by the second day.
There’s always a mind-boggling amount of people here, but I’ve nearly become desensitized to it at this point.
My buddy basically had to sidle through the Exhibit Hall the entire time while in full armor. It was very well received though, so I’m glad to see that all our late-night shifts and hard work paid off.
The funnels were absolutely terrifying to walk around with, especially as it seemed like they were starting to slip on their mounts. We later figured out that the point of failure was actually the connection of the entire funnel assembly to the PVC pipe, and not the pipe-to-pipe connections. The funnels are basically spinning loose on the PVC pipe that’s shoved through their center.
De-armored in between Exhibit Hall bouts. The poor guy couldn’t even sit or kneel with all that cardboard on.
Looks like we might’ve made the neck hole a bit too tight. Some padding should be in order, that looks horrifying.
Oh my god I’m pretty sure my camera-wielding buddy got a little too jittery and actually took a photo of every single figure and collectable on display at the event. Some are a bit more close-up and detail-capturing than others. I have to give him a shoutout for becoming a significantly better photographer; if you take a look on over at Year 1’s photos, you’ll see the clear difference in prowess displayed. I never wanted to call him out on it directly because that’s mean, but I can do it now because he’s obviously improved right?
Cosplay for days.
Oh my god this is awesome.
I always thought Build Fighters would be too new and too obscure for people to actually bother cosplaying as the characters (and the show actually features pretty plain normal character designs for an anime) but major props to this dude for bringing some of Sekai’s hot-bloodedness to life.
THE EAST IS BURNING RED
What the inner-frame looks like, after the armor is stripped.
“Your breasts are mine!”
When you’re so overwhelmed after a day at AX you be like
Waiting on our ride on the streets, everyone’s pretty deadbeat at this point.
In retrospect, we didn’t actually do much on Day 1. It was surreal unveiling the armor and testing it all out for the first time, but I have to say the mere hours worth of sleep I had the night before the first day really put a damper on the experience. My eyes were burning the entire time I was scouring the Exhibit Hall, and I’d be lying if I said I weren’t extremely dejected at not having a helmet by the end of the day.
Hoping the rest of the Expo will be plenty fun though; we haven’t actually spent any money on merch yet; my buddy in armor and I have our eyes set on some big game at the moment, but it’ll sell out quick so we’re gonna have to plan our shopping strategically. One down, three to go.
Read on the rest of the Expo:
